Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2020

33 www.sheffieldcricketlovers.org.uk at the crease SPEAKERS 2018-19 BY ROGER ALLUM Way 100-mile race, completing 83 miles with a guide runner and then having a good cry at his failure to cross the finishing line. Undaunted, he went over to America and ran with guide runners all the way from Boston to the starting line of the New York Marathon (which he went on to complete) – a total distance of 260 miles. Back home, Simon decided that his best option for long-distance solo running was the forbidding 155-mile, seven-day Namib Desert race. He arrived at the starting line wearing a corrective navigation device (made for him by IBM), which was designed to keep him within a 10-metre-wide virtual corridor in the desert. It worked perfectly on day 1, enabling him to complete a marathon distance alone. However, on day 2 he injured his face by running into an unmapped flagpole and on day 3 he suffered a serious leg injury trying to navigate a rock field, an injury that led to his retirement from the race. Bad luck continued to haunt Simon on his return to the UK – he ran into the back of a burnt- out car on a pavement in his native Doncaster, sustaining extensive cuts and burns to his body. During his convalescence he began planning for the 2017 New York Marathon and teamed up with a high-tech American company, WearWorks. Together they developed arm and chest-mounted navigation aids designed to keep him on track and detect the proximity of people running in front of him, using sophisticated vibration technology. The aids worked well in the marathon until it started raining, forcing Simon to complete the final ten miles with a guide runner. Nevertheless, he had become the first blind competitor to run in the New York Marathon without sighted assistance. His quest for the ultimate navigational aid to underpin his passion for solo running continues. At the interval, Jane and her colleagues gave Society members the opportunity of understanding what it is like to have impaired vision, by inviting them to try on simulation glasses for cataracts, diabetic retinopathy and retinitis pigmentosa. The impact on the wearers was profound. (The Society was pleased to award Martin a grant of £100 as a contribution towards his living expenses in the West Indies.) Simon Wheatcroft, Martin Weston and Jane Peach